SOCIAL media which made its maiden presence during the 13th General Election (GE13) was highly leveraged during the GE14 on May 9, 2018 as the ultimate communication tool.
While it enabled vital information such as the profile of candidates, polling centres or even access to election outcome to be made available on an almost real-time basis, it also has the downside of propagating the spread of untruth or fake news.
On the same account, one can imagine what a role technology will play in the GE15 which is to be held on or before Sept 16, 2023. It wouldn’t be too difficult to assume that the state of technology application during the GE15 will be five times better than the GE14.
This has led to the controversial Pertubuhan Minda dan Sosial Prihatin president Ramesh Rao Krishnan Naidu predicting that “as if the current troubles aren’t enough, Perikatan Nasional (PN) may face even more serious problems in the 15th GE”.
“The problem will be the election campaign’s effectiveness which will be mainly reliant on social media,” the once head of a pro-Barisan Nasional (BN) group was cited as saying over a viral video by the Latest Malaysia news portal.
Ramesh who describes himself as a keen DAP observer further claimed that the opposition party is in possession of sophisticated software that will give it an edge come GE15.
Additionally, the DAP and its ally Pakatan Harapan (PH) has the support of social media networks like Facebook. The platform is not ‘friendly’ towards PN apparently, according to Ramesh.
The so-called state-of-the-art software which is in DAP’s possession can help rapidly deploy the party’s propaganda on Facebook. In fact, Rmaesh claimed that it also has the capability “to delay” PN’s social media team’s updates and new posts.
According to the ‘observer’, it is going to be a battle royale on the internet in GE15. Ramesh therefore warned PN leaders that the ruling coalition is likely to face a tough battle.
He also lists the campaigns that DAP is said to have ‘concocted’ for GE15 as well as propagandas that will help the party gain votes.
Ramesh said he summed up his analysis by browsing through DAP-linked websites. He further claimed that the DAP has received such special support because Facebook and Whatsapp are both friendly parties to the political party.
“However, it is a fact that Facebook does not necessarily support any regime or political organisation. There are rules on Facebook that forces a Facebook page or account to abide by before publishing political posts,” cautioned the Latest Malaysia news portal.
“The advertising campaigns on Facebook are also subject to strict rules. One must register as a person or entity promoting political posts to be able to ‘advertise’ or boost politically motivated posts on Facebook.” – July 9, 2021
